Crowdfunding

OED Definition(noun): The practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, each of whom contributes a relatively small amount, typically via the Internet.

Wikipedia Definition: The practice of funding a project or venture by raising monetary contributions from a large number of people, today often performed via internet-mediated registries, but the concept can also be executed through mail-order subscriptions, benefit events, and other methods.

Etymology: Crowdfunding is a blend of Crowd(Old English crūdan, press) + Funding(Latin fundus, the bottom or a piece of land = Crowdfunding. Defunct website fundavlog.com is credited with the coinage of this term. Later popularized by crowdfunding websites Indiegogo(2007) & Kickstarter(2009).

Sociolectal Information: Used initially by a small sphere of savvy entrepreneurs and academics who were aware of crowdfunding but as crowdfunding websites have taken off and gotten more popular more and more people have been using this word and taking part in crowdfunding practices as well. Usage of this word has spiked extremely quickly.

Survival Predictions: Crowdfunding, recently coined in 2006, has already become a very popular word. New crowdfunding websites are springing up all over the internet. In 2013 alone, the crowdfunding industry raised over $5.1 billion worldwide. The current highest grossing project Pebble Time, a smart watch, fundraised $20,338,986 just last year. Crowdfunding websites like Indiegogo & Kickstarter are becoming increasing popular as word of successful campaigns spreads.

Lexopinions: Crowdfunding is a very transformative idea that has taken advantage of the internet to engage customers into helping bring a product or idea to market. This is a transformative idea that has already helped created many innovative and successful products. Crowdfunding is still not in the public’s vocabulary but the idea is catching on quickly and the blend of crowd and fund make it easy to understand and helps its dissemination.